What the Hell is Wrong with Amy?
by Chrmdpoet
Summary: Karma hates not knowing, especially when said not knowing applies to Amy Raudenfeld.


What the Hell is Wrong with Amy?

Karma hates not knowing, especially when said not knowing applies to Amy Raudenfeld. Karma has always known everything there is to know about Amy, so when something pops up that she _doesn't_ know, it makes Karma's eye twitch and her heart race and her curiosity scream and scratch around inside her head until she wants to throw up or punch something or just crack Amy open and dig out whatever secret is being withheld.

The problem with _that_? Amy is the kind of person that needs time. She doesn't just come out with it. She doesn't spit out her problems in a giant rambling mess of words and hand gestures the way Karma does. She likes to mull things over until she figures out exactly how she feels and exactly how she wants to communicate that feeling to Karma. In the meantime, Karma just has to wait.

Karma hates waiting. She is the most impatient person in the world, a label she and Amy both know she wears, but she tries for Amy. She _really _tries, but it has been two freaking weeks and she still doesn't have a clue what the hell is wrong with Amy.

Amy isn't even acting like Amy. She's acting like some sad, confused pod person who has inhabited the real Amy's body and doesn't actually know how to _be _Amy so isn't pulling it off very well. Amy just sort of floats through their days, withdrawn and quiet and nowhere near sarcastic enough to be the real Amy Raudenfeld.

"Okay, seriously?" Karma finally explodes at the end of the day when they're walking toward the bus. "Who are you and what have you done with my _real _best friend?"

Amy's face scrunches with confusion and she lets out a breathy chuckle. "What?"

"_You,_" Karma cries. "You're being so weird, and I know something's up and I'm not supposed to push you to talk about it before you're ready, but it's been two weeks, and my brain is melting!"

Amy's eyes widen until she looks like a deer caught in headlights, and then she splutters, "Uh, no-nothing, Karma. I'm just, you know, trying to figure out what swimsuit to wear to Shane's pool party tonight."

Karma stares at her, deadpan. "Really, Amy? We've only known about the party for like, two days. It's been two _weeks. _Can you _please _just tell me already before I explode?"

Amy's mouth moves wordlessly.

"Oh," Karma adds, "and you should totally wear the red bikini. Red is a good color on you."

Amy blushes and hates it, and Karma thinks it's cute. Amy has always been that way about compliments, even from Karma and even after a decade of friendship.

"Okay, now tell me," Karma says, and Amy lets out a long sigh.

Amy's hands ring around the strap of her bag like she's nervous and that makes Karma nervous. What the hell kind of secret is this girl hiding?

"Uh, I'm not," Amy tries, swallowing thickly and glancing away from Karma. "I don't think I'm ready to talk about it, Karm. Sorry." She doesn't wait for a reply before she ducks her head and runs off toward the bus, leaving Karma to stand and gape in her wake.

This is unacceptable. Karma has to know. She _has _to. She has a mighty fucking need.

She pulls out her phone and sends Amy a text.

_Amy, look, I don't wanna push you but you should know you can tell me ANYTHING. I'm worried about you and I'm your best friend. I just wanna know you're okay bc it doesn't seem like you are. Maybe I can help with whatever it is. Just think about it, k? Kk See you at the party tonight. Wear the red one. Xoxo_

She waits and stares at her phone, knowing Amy will text her back immediately, and sure enough, she receives a reply less than a minute later.

_Thanks._

Karma lets out a long growling sigh, disappointed, but then her phone chimes again and she jumps to read the message.

_Also, you just missed the bus._

Karma's head snaps up and she sighs as she watches the bus pull away with Amy on it. "Crap," she mutters and starts the walk home.

She uses the time to figure out what swimsuit she is going to wear to the party and what outfit she is going to wear on top of that. She also plans to corner Amy at some point and try again, but she won't push too hard. She will ask, you know, _again_, and if Amy still doesn't want to talk about it, then Karma will just let it be.

For a while. Maybe.

* * *

They arrive at the party at the same time just like they planned and walk in together, hand in hand, also just like they planned; well, more like Karma planned. She is the planner of the two. She always has been. Amy is more like the nodder and follower, though her two cents is always thoroughly appreciated and always makes Karma's plans way, _way _better.

They are a perfect pair, totally completing each other, you know, in that friend sort of way.

Karma smiles as she squeezes Amy's hand and pulls her inside.

Amy lets Karma tug her along but she's smiling that tight, forced, fake smile that Karma knows is fake and that Amy knows Karma knows is fake, and Karma's curiosity is definitely killing cats at this point.

Everyone is already out by the pool or in it and Karma pulls Amy toward the sounds of people laughing and yelling and splashing. She is excited.

When they make it to the pool, everyone cheers about the arrival of their favorite and only lesbian couple, and Karma grins while Amy grimaces, and they both begin removing their outerwear.

Karma feels a strange tickle in her stomach when Amy drops her shorts and is clad in nothing but the red bikini Karma had suggested that looks even better on Amy's body than it had on the rack and is way tinier than Karma ever realized.

Her body heats quickly as she gapes at her best friend, and Amy just gapes right back at her. She watches Amy's eyes track down her body and her own track down Amy's and it only makes the heat in her gut increase.

Karma shakes her head and files that moment away in her 'Weird Things I Can't Explain and Probs Don't Want to Think About' folder, because whoa. That was definitely new.

"Um, Karma," Amy says, and Karma snaps to attention.

"Huh, what?"

"You're staring," Amy tells her, and Karma blushes the color of her hair.

"Yeah, um, I was just, um, trying to put on a good show for everyone," Karma whispers, laughing. "You know."

Amy's expression falls and flattens and Karma files that away in her 'Get to the Bottom of Whatever the Hell is Going on with Amy' folder, because that was definitely interesting and something worth bringing up.

Amy just nods and turns to slip into the pool, and Karma takes a deep breath before following her in.

They splash around with everyone and have a great time until Liam proposes a game of chicken, which seems fun enough until he dives under the water and comes up between Karma's legs. She squeaks and laughs as he hauls her up on his shoulders, and then she looks down at Amy.

"Come on, Amy," she calls. "Get on Shane's shoulders."

Shane starts to swim toward Amy, but Amy's eyes are glued on Karma and on Liam's head pressed between Karma's legs and Liam's hands wrapped around Karma's thighs, and Amy's expression is completely and utterly broken.

Karma's stomach lurches when Amy shakes her head and hoists herself out of the pool before running off toward the house.

"Amy!" Karma calls. "Amy wait!"

"What was _that _about?" Liam asks, and Shane shakes his head like he knows _exactly _what it was about, and Karma feels like she is going to throw up or implode or just disintegrate into the night air because she thinks she knows too.

She thinks she finally gets it, what's wrong with Amy, and she can't breathe.

She taps Liam's head and tells him to let her down, and she is out of the pool in no time, chasing after Amy.

She finds her in Shane's bedroom, dripping on the carpet and pressing against the wall and hiding her face in her hands. Karma stands still and quiet behind her for a while before she whispers, "Amy?"

Amy whirls around, eyes wide and tearful. "Karma," she says, and her voice sounds as broken as her face looks, and it only makes Karma's stomach clench harder and her heart pound.

"Amy, do you have feelings for me?" Karma asks, and she hates how freaked out she sounds because she doesn't want to freak Amy out any more than Amy is already freaked out, but she can't really help it.

Amy not wanting to tell Karma what was bothering her suddenly makes a whole hell of a lot of sense, and Karma still can't breathe.

Amy cries. She can't help it, Karma knows, because Amy hates to cry. But she does. She cries, like really cries, and she shakes her head and she holds her hands up pointlessly, cupping the air like she just doesn't know what to do, and then ...

"I've been freaking out ever since we kissed," Amy confesses, and Karma feels her own eyes start to sting.

"That long?" she asks. "Amy, why didn't you tell me? Why have you been torturing yourself this whole time?"

Amy wipes at her cheeks, and Karma thinks she looks beautiful, her eyes glowing brighter through her tears. That thought alone makes Karma's heart clench and then pound even harder, because she realizes that she thinks those kind of things a lot-how beautiful Amy looks and how funny she is and how smart she is and how everything, _everything _is just _so much _better with her than without her.

"Because I was getting to hold your hand," Amy admits. "I know that's pathetic but I realized I have all these feelings for you and I couldn't tell you because I knew you would never feel the same way about me, but you were kissing me and holding my hand, and I thought ... I thought ... I don't know, Karma. I guess I thought that was the best I was ever gonna have it, so—"

Karma swallows Amy's next words in a heated press of lips. She does it before she even really thinks about it, her feet carrying her to Amy like they've already made up her mind for her, and then they are kissing, and everything is wet and warm and just ...

"Whoa," Amy whispers when their lips part and Karma hovers a breath away, forehead pressed to Amy's.

Karma smiles because it's the only freaking thing she _can _do, and because Amy is totally right. She nuzzles her nose against Amy's and nods against her forehead and whispers, "I know."


End file.
